Combined Assessment Program Review of the Beckley VA Medical Center, Beckley, West Virginia

The purpose of the review was to evaluate selected operations, focusing on patient care administration and quality management (QM). During the review, OIG provided crime awareness briefings to 133 employees. This review focused on nine operational activities. The facility complied with selected standards in the following six activities: (1) coordination of care, (2) medication management, (3) moderate sedation, (4) nurse staffing, (5) point-of-care testing, and (6) polytrauma. The facility’s reported accomplishments were training to improve staff awareness of and increase referrals to the Ethics Consult Service and development of a process to capture utilization management physician advisor recommendations and actions taken by attending physicians for cases not meeting admission or continued stay criteria. OIG made recommendations for improvement in the following three activities: (1) environment of care, (2) colorectal cancer screening, and (3) QM.